Contacts Between the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula and the Mediterranean World Brigitte Borell, Bérénice Bellina, Boonyarit Chaisuwan
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Contacts between the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula and the Mediterranean World Brigitte Borell, Bérénice Bellina, Boonyarit Chaisuwan To cite this version: Brigitte Borell, Bérénice Bellina, Boonyarit Chaisuwan. Contacts between the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula and the Mediterranean World. Nicolas Revire; Stephen A. Murphy. Before Siam was Born: New Insights on the Art and Archaeology of Pre-Modern Thailand and its Neighbouring Regions, River Books, pp.98-117, 2014. hal-02393494 HAL Id: hal-02393494 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02393494 Submitted on 7 Dec 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Contacts between the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula and the Mediterranean World BRIGITTE BORELL, BÉRÉNICE BELLINA & BOONYARIT CHAISUWAN Introduction n the last centuries BCE and the early centuries CE, the coastal regions Iof mainland Southeast Asia were linked to a network of maritime routes. Recent studies based on archaeological finds demonstrated the active contacts between South Asia and the upper part of the Thai- Malay Peninsula. However, for the sea routes between the coasts of southern China and India, the Thai-Malay Peninsula acts as a huge barrier. In recent years some sites on the western and eastern coast of the Isthmus of Kra area have been receiving more and more attention from archaeologists – but sadly, also from looters, who find digging for artefacts very profitable. These sites yielded an array of finds imported from several rather distant regions. It appears that different systems of maritime routes were here connected by transpeninsular routes, as had already been concluded from a passage in the annals of the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE-8 CE) describing a sea voyage from the southern Chinese ports in the Gulf of Tonkin to India. Judging from the finds, the networks connecting different maritime routes reached as far as China in the east, and in the west to the western coasts of the Indian Ocean, and from there via the Red Sea ultimately to the Mediterranean Sea (Bellina & Glover 2004). This essay presents a selection of artefacts originating from the region of the Mediterranean Sea and mainly dating from the Roman Imperial period (here the late first century BCE to third century CE) unearthed or reported to have been found mainly at sites in the upper part of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Khao Sam Kaeo, Tha Chana, Phu Khao Thong and nearby Bang Kluai Nok [e.g. Figure 1] in the region of the Isthmus of Kra (Bellina et al., this volume), and Khlong Thom further south. These sites provide a chronological sequence from the very early days of the maritime silk roads – i.e. from the fourth to the third centuries BCE for the site of Khao Sam Kaeo, then from the last centuries BCE and the early centuries CE for the other sites. Although a few Mediterranean finds from Khlong Thom, also known as Khuan Luk Pat (“bead mound”), in Krabi province, had already come to light in the 1980s, some newly reported material from there and also Opposite Figure 1: Roman from the other sites is introduced. The discussion will focus on the dating cameo fragment with satyr and of the objects, and when they might have been used in their Southeast standing figure from Bang Kluai Asian context, their possible function – as well as the types of objects Nok, Ranong province, early 1st century CE, preserved height 19.5 which seem to have been most favoured. Objects, whether made in the millimetres, Suthiratana Foundation, West or inspired by its production, help to illustrate the chronological inv. no. BKN 280 [Photograph development of long-distance sea routes to this peninsular area. courtesy of Karunphol Phanich]. 98 99 BRIGITTE BORELL ET AL. The Sites Left Figure 2: Roman carnelian intaglio with two fighting cocks from Khlong Thom, Krabi province, is located about 240 kilometres south Khlong Thom, late 1st-2nd century of the Isthmus of Kra. The site is now about 20 kilometres inland CE, Wat Khlong Thom museum, Krabi province [Photograph by from the western coast, and connected to the Andaman Sea by the Boonyarit Chaisuwan]. Khlong Thom river. It was in an ideal location for an entrepôt engaged both in sea-borne trade and specialist manufacturing activities. Khao Sam Kaeo is in Chumphon province, on the eastern coast Right Figure 3: Roman carnelian intaglio with Fortuna from Khlong of the Kra Isthmus region. According to the chronology established Thom, late 1st-2nd century CE, 15 by the Thai-French excavations based on radiocarbon dates, the major millimetres. Formerly at Wat Khlong period of activity at the site can be dated between the fourth and first Thom museum, Krabi province centuries BCE, nevertheless some activity appears to have also taken [After Bellina 1998: fig. 8b]. place in the early centuries CE (Bellina-Pryce & Praon 2008; Glover & Bellina 2011; Bellina et al., this volume). The excavations brought Intaglios and a Cameo Fragment to light an astounding array of finds, among them Chinese ceramic fragments dating from the Han period (206 BCE to 220 CE) (Peronnet Motifs on Roman intaglios were usually engraved in reverse because 2013), large amounts of Indian pottery fragments (Bouvet 2006 and it was supposed to have been viewed as it appeared on the impression 2011) as well as other imports from India, indicating the status of the or sealing. Here for example, Fortuna [Figure 3] would be correctly site in the trade networks of the period. viewed in an impression holding her rudder with her right hand. The The site of Tha Chana in Surat Thani province, about 100 Mars in impression [Figure 5b] has his sword and arms correctly kilometres south of Khao Sam Kaeo, is likewise situated on the east on his left side. However, this was not always strictly observed by the coast. This site has been heavily looted and only briefly surveyed by Roman gem-cutters, maybe because the intaglios were also appreciated archaeologists, therefore very little is known about it (Amara et al. 1987: for their decorative value in jewellery. For instance, a motif such as 350). The evidence of waste material from the manufacture of stone the young satyr with a bunch of grapes in his outstretched hand and glass beads suggests that one of the activities at the site was bead- [Figures 4a-b] frequently occurs in both versions on Roman intaglios making; some of the beads can be compared with those from Khao with the actions of arms and legs reversed. In this essay, the motifs are Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong. The finds from the site also include described as they appear on the stone. sherds of Han period pottery (Peronnet 2013) and Indian Fine Wares A number of intaglios from the Roman Imperial period have been (Bouvet 2012: 307-308). In addition, fragments of at least seven glass found at Khlong Thom. Three of these are described below and have vessels of a type known from Han period tombs in the Gulf of Tonkin already been discussed in earlier publications (Mayuree 1992: 157, region (Borell 2011: 62, n. 37) were also found at Tha Chana, which fig. 5; Glover 1996a: fig. 5 and 1996b: 65, ill. top row centre which is support a dating of the early phase of the site that covers at least the first mirror-inverted; Bellina 1998: fig. 8). The first is an oval intaglio with a century BCE and the early centuries CE. convex face showing two fighting cocks[Figure 2], a motif well known Archaeological investigations have been carried out at Phu Khao from Roman gems.2 The second intaglio, also a carnelian, illustrates Thong, Ranong province on the western coast of the peninsula, only one of the most popular motifs used on Roman seal stones: Fortuna since 2005. Their preliminary results already point to an identification [Figure 3]. She is standing, dressed in a long garment (chiton) with a of this site and the group of neighbouring sites including Bang Kluai long cloak (himation) draped around her hips and right shoulder, its ends Nok as an important coastal trading station in a period covering the falling down over the right forearm. Fortuna holds her characteristic last two centuries BCE to the early centuries CE. These sites yielded attributes: the horn of plenty (cornucopia) and in her other hand she abundant finds of Indian ceramics, among them “rouletted ware,” as grasps the rudder. In addition to the rudder, she holds a corn-ear and a well as fragments of Han period Chinese ceramics. They are thought to poppy-head – attributes originally characteristic of Ceres, the goddess be connected to the western end of transpeninsular routes crossing the of agriculture, for which reason this type is sometimes also called Isthmus (Boonyarit 2011; Bellina et al., this volume). Fortuna-Ceres. Judging from photographs, Martin Henig has already Lastly, the site of U Thong, Suphan Buri province, in central suggested a date in the late first to second century CE for these two Thailand is a major urban centre of the later Dvāravatī culture. It also intaglios (Glover 1989: n. 5 and 1996b: n. 7).3 The third intaglio is yielded archaeological evidence of earlier phases, as well as finds that an oval carnelian with dark inclusions and a flat face, engraved with parallel those from Oc Eo from the first centuries CE.